Union Oil Co. of Cal. v. Illinois Pollution Control Bd.

The court upholds comprehensive noise regulations adopted under the Illinois Environmental Protection Act as not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad and as not depriving petitioner of property without compensation. The regulations classify land users into four classes each of "emitters" and "receivers," according to, respectively, their noise generation and their sensitivity to noise. The court declines to decide whether the regulations are supported by the manifest weight of the rulemaking record. Instead, the court prefers the arbitrary or capricious standard of review, under which the agency has not exceeded its authority to promulgate noise standards delegated by the legislature in the Illinois Environmental Protection act. The regulations, which prohibit noise that "unreasonably interferes" with uses of adjoining property, do not violate due process through overbreadth or vaguencess. Furthermore, the regulations do not unconstitutionally take private property, but are within legitimate state police powers to regulate property uses.